Following in Your Father's Footsteps
by BandGeek321
Summary: When Winry and Ed's son and daughter find out about alchemy, what could go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

Winry watched as her son, Toby, shoved away his milk, thinking his mom didn't notice. She left her work of fixing her husband's leg and walked over.

She leaned down and whispered in his ear, "Now you don't want to be short like, Daddy right?"

The young boy shook his head viciously and gulped down the milk, eyeing his father the entire time.

"What did you tell him?" Ed asked his wife.

"Oh, nothing!" She held a finger to her lips and looked pointedly at her son. Her son responded with a look of zipping his lips and throwing out the key. Winry smiled in return. She glanced over and watched her daughter, names Nina, waddle in the room. She held up a drawing and pointed at things saying what they were.

"Wow that's so good, honey!" Winry smiled. Nina then walked over to her dad, who picked her up and set her on his shoulders.

"Wow, I'm taller then Daddy!" She exclaimed happily.

"Didn't need much help with that..." Toby snorted and walked out of the room.

"Down! Down!" Nina giggled as her dad set her down and she chased after Toby.

Toby walked past the attic, he always avoided it because it was creepy to him. His sister still chasing after him looked at the open door and peeked in, noticing the room for the first time. She was having a hard time walking down the stairs, as they were very tall.  
"T-Toby?" She called.

"Nina!" He heard her down the attic. He knew that place was scary and was very scared of his sister getting harmed. He remembered the promise he made to his dad for her the first day a kid had made fun of her.

_Flashback_

"Now Toby, I want you to protect your baby sister. I named her after a little girl I knew once."  
"What happened to the little girl, Dad?" Toby asked, curiosity burning.

"She... She died. She had a very mean father who did very mean things. But that's not the point. I don't want to lose another Nina. I want you to protect her for as long as you can. Forever. Okay?" Ed looked into his son's eyes. He wanted more then anything his daughter safe, and more then anything he wanted his son to always be there. Someone who the old Nina didn't have.

"I promise."

_Flashback over._

__He followed after her down the stairs.  
"Nina?" He called.

"Toby!" She was in a pile of mattresses, she must have tripped.

Toby picked her up and pulled her out of the mattress pile.

"Woah! Look at this place Toby!" Nina walked over to the corner and pulled out a suit case from a pile. She popped it open and inside was a small notebook.

"Can you read it?" She said thrusting the book to her brother.  
"It's Dad's." He muttered looking at the hand writing.

"Yeah, but whats it say?" She asked, listening while pulling out more books from the case. She started to listen but stopped him.

"Toby, it all says the same thing, whats it mean?" She said staring down the pile of books almost as tall as she was.

"Well this one says, "The History of Alchemy", "Alchemy: the World's Sin", "Alchemy: Acts of Faith", "Alchemy: Knowing How"." He muttered the last bit, not wanting his sister to hear or learn about this stuff. It didn't look safe. She dug through the last one, despite Toby, and finally found what she was looking for.

"Pictures!" She exclaimed and stole some chalk from a book case, drawing the picture on the book. She then placed a stone in the middle.

"Nina, don't you dare!" But it was too late, Nina had already clapped her hands on the cold ground. They watched as a light sparked and followed the rims of the sign she drew, then flew into the rock. She picked it up and looked at it. It was in a perfect shape of a bunny, Nina's favorite animal.

She jumped up the stairs calling for her mom and dad to come see what she made. She was yelling about how pretty it was.

"Daddy look!" She yelled. He looked over and smiled.

"Oh that looks exactly like a rabbit. Did you find that stone?" He smiled at her.

"No I made it!" Her father looked at her doubtingly but still smiled, he plucked it from her hands and examined it.

"Oh and how'd you do that?"

"Alquermay!" She said, "Or is it Alcaymar... Oh I know! Al-che-my!"

Ed dropped the stone and it fell to the floor breaking.

"You used _what?!_"


	2. Chapter 2

Nina stared at her dad, wondering why he could possibly have a look of fear in his eyes. He stood up and ran down the stairs, where his son Toby had been trying to scrub the sign off the ground. He began putting all the books in the suit case and brought it upstairs. He ran past the kids and he hid it in a room without the kids noticing. He locked the door.

_Our pet had recently died, and with their knowledge of Alchemy... They might do what Al and I did... I can't let that happen, _Ed thought. Watching as his wife ran over to him.  
"What's wrong? What's all the noise?" Winry asked.

"The kids... They used Alchemy..."

"What? How'd they know how?"

"They found the books in the basement." He said looking away.

"I told you to hide those books properly, you knucklehead! What are you thinking?! You need to get rid of them and quick or else you'll-" Ed began to drown her out with his own thoughts.

_It wouldn't be too bad to have alchemy back in the family. I mean sure it's risky but as long as the kids know their boundaries... Maybe I could teach them, I bet they'd love to learn. I mean they would never try to reincarnate someone. They'll be fine! _Ed was completely lost in his mind by the end of Winry's rant.

"I'm gonna teach them how!" He said firmly. Winry put her hand to her head.

"What did I _just_ say?"

"Ummm..."  
"Don't even _think_ about teaching it to them. They could get hurt Ed!"

"You don't think I know that? I almost lost my brother because of Alchemy!" Ed countered.

"Then why would you teach our children?!" Winry screamed.

"Because they're going to find out some day!" Winry thought about this and nodded.

"Your right. But they're _not_ going to find out from you." She said sternly. She then huffed and went into the kitchen to cook.

Ed pulled the books out of the closet he shoved them in. He read through his writings.

_I learned and my parents were just fine with it. They should learn too, _He convinced himself.

Ed walked down stairs to his kids, and smiled at them. He then pulled out his journal and looked over at Nina. Who had been drawing the same symbol over and over again, as Toby scrubbed away at each.

"Okay you two. You want to learn Alchemy, I suppose, don't you?" He asked quietly so Winry won't hear.

"Of course!" Nina ran over.

"Then lets begin." Ed said.


	3. Chapter 3

Winry woke up to the sound of her phone.

"Hello?" Winry muttered. She realized she had forgotten to drop her kids off so it must have been Ed calling to let her know.

"Hi, is this the Elric household?"

"Yes, can I help you?"

"Are you Nina's mother?"

"Yes."

"Your daughter is sitting in the principle's office. She's in trouble."

Winry rushed down to the school.

"You got _suspended_?!"

"I didn't mean too! The girl said that I had no talent, so I said Alchemy was my talent and she said theres no such thing, so I showed her!"

"By trapping her in an unbreakable cage?!"

"Yup!" Nina smiled triumphantly.

"How'd they get her out?!"

"I had to get rid of it..." Nina sighed.

"Oh I'm _so_ bringing this up with your father!" Winry scowled.


	4. Chapter 4

"How can you teach the kids alchemy after I specifically told you not to, idiot!" Winry said, working on Ed's one metal leg. She hated working on it, because that meant she had to remember the days that Ed wasn't Ed but he was Edward Elric the Fullmetal Alchemist.

"It was something they, ow! Really wanted to do! Ow! So I thought they would like to, and Winry, you can't keep them from learning... OW!" Ed yelled muttering swear words as the kids walked in the room.

"That doesn't change anything, knucklehead!" Winry began, clearly not noticing the kids in the room, who were now slowly backing out, "They could have gotten hurt! That girl that Nina trapped in the chamber, what would happen if we couldn't get her out! She could have died, Ed! Nina, our girl, could have killed a girl!" Winry said, tears burning her eyes.

"But the point is, she didn't!" Ed countered.

"What happens if next time she does. Do you think she could live with herself? Do you think you could live with yourself?" Winry said a look of frustration passing through her eyes.

"I understand. But now she knows how. And she will do it even without our permission. So now we should just finish the job, and teach her boundaries." Ed said, trying to convince Winry fully and completely.

"That wasn't the question. Could you live with yourself?" Winry said, pushing the hair out of her eyes.

"I have before, haven't I?" Ed began looking at his feet.

They heard a tiny gasp and knew Nina was behind them. She was good at sneaking in rooms. She knew the perfect way to step and the perfect way to make sure they didn't see her.

"Dad... You killed people?" Nina muttered clearly upset by the word "killed".

"Not good people, honey. These people were very cruel and were trying to kill a lot of us," Winry said, protecting her husband's ego as he stared away from his daughter and out the window. At the graveyard, where stood the grave of his mother.

"So daddy, you were helping the world?"

"I wasn't exactly helping but I wasn't making it worse..." Ed muttered.

"Like recycling!" Nina cheered. Obviously not understanding. It did get a laugh out of Ed and Winry though so Nina skipped away singing.

"So... Your still going to teach them?" Winry looked him in the eyes, but her voice was barely above a whisper.

"Yes." Ed said and with that he was off into the basement with Nina right behind him, listening carefully to every word. Toby finally walked into the room and found out he liked alchemy just a bit more when he managed to fix his old broken baseball bat.

"Never use this page," Ed said when he came across "Human Transformation".

"Why not?" Nina said trying to view the page.

"Its one of those boundaries I was talking about." Ed said trying to tear out the page but all it budged was halfway, it wouldn't tear any farther.

"Sure, Dad. We won't even look at it." Toby said putting his right hand around Nina's eyes and the left around his own.

"Good." Ed said, deciding to just shut the book. He didn't notice that the page stuck out among the others, he was too busy trying to change the subject.

Late that night, Nina came downstairs with Toby and pulled out the book that was hidden among the others. Toby began reading it and joy filled his eyes.

"It says here we can bring back anything that once had a beating heart!" He looked at Nina and they both thought of their dead dog. 'Scribble' was his name, he was just a puppy labradoodle and the kids loved how it was a doodle dog, so they named him Scribble. Scribble had been playing with them in the street when a car came speeding up the road. Scribble basically tackled Toby into a ditch but Scribble himself got hit. It wasn't the hit that killed him. Sadly he was bleeding from the inside and he was put to sleep. Toby hadn't acted the same since. He felt like he needed to protect his sister even more because after all, that could've been her.

"We can bring Scribble back to life!" Nina cheered. They both dropped the book leaving it open. They went after the things they needed. Toby paused halfway through grabbing the shovel.

"Do you think there's a reason Dad told us not to?" Toby asked.

"You know he hated Scribble. Said he yipped too much..." Nina said looking up at Toby as if it was a fact.

"Okay..." Toby nodded and they began to dig up their old pet dog. He had been buried for maybe a week.

Some time passed and as it turned to Sunday morning the kids were ready.

"Let's do this." Nina nodded and right as they put their hands down with a loud smack, Toby wished he could take it back times a million.

* * *

**Wow, thanks guys for all the reviews! The next chapter will be up in a bit... I kinda broke my thing that holds my keyboard... So this on its own was a pain to right... But I did it just for all of you!**

**Your Author :3**


	5. Chapter 5

Ed walked down stairs and heard immediately the sounds of hands clapping against the ground. He stepped down further and heard a high pitched scream. Finally he came to the last step and saw it. He saw the thing. The awful creature that was moving towards them. Him. Just one. Where was Nina? Where was his little girl.  
"Nina?!" He yelled searching the room.  
"NINA?!" He yelled louder. He was shuddering softly. His heart stopping thinking she'd be behind each wall.  
"NINA?!" He yelled. He looked in every room of the house. He finally came over to Tommy who sat in the corner of the basement, crying.

"Where's Nina?!" Ed shouted, listening as Winry came down stairs and gasped at the blood piled on the floor.

"Ed, we need to get him to the hospital."

"_NO!_" Ed said, trying not to break down in front of his wife and his child, "We need to find my Nina!"

Winry's eyes grew big and filled with tears. She looked over at the bloody mess and the slowly moving creature that resembled their dog.

"They didn't! You promised they wouldn't!" Winry said crying and she began to tear through pages of Alchemy books looking everywhere for a way to take their daughter back.

"I told you specifically not to. I told you not to use that page. I told you not to go near it."

"I'm sorry!" Toby cried.

_CRACK!_

Ed swung his hand and slapped Toby. Not too hard but hard enough that it began to bruise the poor child's face. Toby felt guilty enough, but he knew his sister was just around the corner. He saw her leave and walk through some doors while they were performing transmutations.

"You said you'd always protect her! We've lost her forever now. We won't be able to get her back! She'll be stuck beyond their forever! She won't eat or sleep until we get her out, which I don't see a way of doing!" Ed wept, "I lost my Nina. You lost my Nina. I lost the one most precious little girl in my life. Again..."

Winry picked up Toby who had passed out from blood loss and hyper ventilating. He had been crawling around the room looking for her. He wouldn't find her. And he hoped they'd never find him either. He knew his dad would never forgive him. He knew his dad would hate him forever. He just didn't want to believe his sister was really gone. He couldn't.

* * *

**Please, please, please, don't hate me. And I'm sorry if this sounds too much like the original story of FMA. If so tell me in the reviews and I'll change the chapters up a bit. Sorry for the super-duper cliff hanger but I hope you liked it. More to come... If I ever fricking fix my key board -_-**


	6. Chapter 6

Ed ran out of the house while Winry was tending to Toby. Ed was shuddering and he jumped in the car. He began to yell at everything he saw.  
"DAMN IT!" He shouted as the radio on the car wouldn't turn off. He had been driving for what seemed like an hour. He just needed to make it there. He started hitting the radio and looked down trying to change to a mute station. He swore under his breath and looked up. He had entered the other lane. He tried to swerve but he reacted too slowly. A car slammed into the side of his, sending Ed flying into a ditch. Ed came out unscathed but was scared of what may have happened to the other car. He flung his door open and ran over.

"I'm sorry, its been a pretty bad day. I can pay for the damag- Al?" He said as Al stepped out. Al looked up at his brother worried.

"Brother? Are you okay?" Al looked at his brother's face which must've showed his sadness. Al go in his car and backed it into a drive way. Ed didn't even notice he was driving past the place he wanted to go.

Al and Ed began walking and talked.

"They did what?!" Al said.

"Yeah." Ed sighed.

"Well... I can use my Alchemy to get her back..." Al muttered.

"How?"

"Same way you got my body back. I'll give up my Alchemy." Ed thought about it. It was his brother's job, his life, how he makes everything... But then again it was his Nina, his sweet, daring, courageous Nina. He needed her more then Al needed any of that.

"Okay." Ed nodded.

"So what do you have her soul in?"

"The bastards took all of it. Her soul. Her body. They took her."

"What about Toby?" Al said.

"He lost an arm. He can live with it." Ed muttered angrily.

"Well lets go back home and see what we can do." Al said.

Ed pulled his car out of the ditch, it was mostly unscathed other then a few dents. He and Al drove away in it and arrived home. They came home to screaming.

"Just stop! No! Toby, no! You do that and I'll bring you back to life, just to kill you, you hear?!" Winry was yelling.

"NO! I'm bringing her back!" There was shouting then a clap.

"No! NO!" Ed yelled running in. Al was left staring up at the house behind him. Sighing and closing his eyes. His niece and nephew. Both idiots. Not to mention his brother as well.

Ed burst through the door and found Winry banging on the basement door.

"Toby, open up, right now." Winry banged louder. Ed pulled her to the side and kicked the door.

Ed rushed in to the basement. It was a mess and gruesome. Blood covered the room, the circle surrounding the still twitching dog, barely visible because of all the blood.

Toby was next to the dog, blood surrounding him as well.

"Toby?! Toby?!" Ed yelled, hoping his son was alive after all the blood loss.

"Y-yeah dad?" Toby sighed into his dad's hand.

"What happened?" Ed tried to keep his son awake.

"I got Nina back... I think..." Ed looked around the room then looked over and saw the only thing standing up. A dog. A soulless dog. So that's how he did it...

"Th-that's not Nina... That's Nina's soul... In a dog..." Ed closed his eyes thinking.

The dog came over and licked Toby's ear.

"Alright, that's kinda creepy because I know your a human... Human's don't normally lick..." Toby muttered. It caused a chuckle out of their dad. They brought Toby upstairs again, mending him properly.

Al watched them. He was glad he and Mei weren't married yet... Nor had children. This looked like work and pain and suffering. The things his brother goes through.

* * *

**YAY! I did it even with a broken key board. Your welcome. Anyway, next chapter coming... Btw if you guys really hated this chapter, please tell me so I can make the next one more up beat. Thanks.**

**-Your Author :3**


	7. Chapter 7

Al wasn't excited for what was coming next. He had to do it for his brother though. For his brother's daughter. For his niece. And for their new dog *cough* scary child dog *cough*.

_Was I like that when I was out of my body?..._ Al thought, _No... I was adorable._

"Are you sure about this Al?" Ed asked.

"Don't make me rethink this." Al responded.

"Ok, if you're sure."

"As sure as I'll ever be, brother."

* * *

Winry watched from the corner of the basement. She didn't want to see anything go wrong again. She couldn't bare to watch if-

"WAIT!" Called Toby.

"What?" Ed and Al both heaved out, out of pure anticipation.

"Sorry, son, what is it?" Ed asked.

"Let me give up my alchemy." Toby said.

"What happens if Alchemy becomes, kind of like your life to you?" Al stared at the boy.

Toby shook his head sadly,"Alchemy already took what is my life to me. It'll never take that spot."

"Could he get hurt?" Winry asked, eyeing the boy's new metal arm and leg. Ed looked at him then back at Winry.

"From what I know? No, he can't." Ed said.

"I-I'm not sure about this..." Al said.

Ed ignored his surrounding people and walked over to Winry. He turned and cupped his hands around her eared and whispered.

"If he succeeds in this it means he'll never be able to use Alchemy again. And that's what I want for him." Ed nodded to the boy who was talking to Al.

"Okay. If you say so..." Winry said looking over at Toby, tears burning her eyes.

* * *

Toby started. He wasn't sure what to expect when he entered the... Is it a room? He couldn't tell. His dad mentioned something about a gate... Maybe he's in his backyard... No his backyard has grass and sky. Its not just white. He was looking around and then he saw her. Nina.

"NINA!" He called. She was sitting in a corner crying. Her body heaving slightly as she did. It took them 3 days to prep for Al to do this. She must be starving. He remembered what his dad said and he cried out.

"I-I will give my Alchemy f-for her." He muttered nervously.

"For. WHAT?!" Cried a voice.

"To get my sister's body back. Nina." He said, intimidated.

Suddenly he felt pain beyond his wildest imagination.

"As you wish." The voice said.


	8. Chapter 8

Toby awoke. He felt like a thousand hammers had hit him. He didn't want to breathe. He just laid there. But then he heard it. Her laughter. Then he opened his eyes and saw her smile.

He was struck with the most happiness you could ever have. He felt like all that pain, all that suffering, all that weight on his shoulders, wasn't there. He was with her. He was with his sister. There was nothing more important to him. The he shifted moving his limbs. Two arms... Two legs... Wait a second! Two arms and two legs?!

"H-How'd I get my... Arm and leg?" He asked bewilderment in his eyes.

"We figured you asked for it at the gate." Al said.

"N-No..." Toby muttered.

"I have no clue..." Nina said dragging out the 'o'. Then she leaned over and winked at me.

I looked shocked.

"You gave that up for me?" I mouthed.

"I didn't need it anyway." She mouthed back.

"I'm just so glad you two are back!" Said Winry, crushing them in a hug.

Ed came over and kissed Nina's cheek.

"I missed you so much, darling! And Toby," He turned to his son, "You've been so courageous this last week. I don't know what we could've done without you."

For what felt like months, Toby was perfectly happy again. And wasn't worried at all.


End file.
